Farneta Charterhouse, in

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

Certosa di Farneta (also Certosa di Santo Spirito di Farneta or Certosa di Maggiano) is a

Carthusian monastery This is a list of Carthusian monasteries, or charterhouses, containing both extant and dissolved monasteries of the Carthusians (also known as the Order of Saint Bruno) for monks and nuns, arranged by location under their present countries. Also ...

(charterhouse) just north of

Lucca Lucca ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the Serchio River, in a fertile plain near the Ligurian Sea. The city has a population of about 89,000, while its province has a population of 383,957. Lucca is known as one ...

, region of

Tuscany it, Toscano (man) it, Toscana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Citizenship , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = Italian , demogra ...

, Italy.

History

The charterhouse was founded in the early 14th century. In the 17th century, the painters Giovanni Fondagna and Stefano Cassiani worked on the interior of the church, including the

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. The word derives, via Italian, fro ...

and two altar-pieces. The monastery was suppressed by Napoleonic forces in 1809, only to be re-occupied later in the 19th century.Repetti, Emanuele
''Dizionario geografico fisico storico della Toscana''
Firenze, 1839, vol. 3, page 12.

20th century

In September 1944, monks from the charterhouse opened their doors to troops from the 16th SS Panzergrenadier Division, who said they came bearing gifts for the abbey. They broke into the monastery to arrest 32 partisans and Jews being sheltered in the monastery. Some of the refugees were able to escape. Six monks and six lay brothers were arrested, tortured, and killed by firing squad. A plaque at the entrance of the monastery, dedicated on 20 January 1985, nearly four decades after the event, reads: Among the twelve Carthusians killed were two Germans, one Swiss, one Venezuelan, and one Spaniard. The remaining monks were also from diverse countries. Those killed were Benedetto Lapuente, Bruno D'Amico, Raffaele Cantero, Adriano Compagnon, Adriano Clerc, Michele Nota, Giorgio Maritano, Pio Egger, Martino Binz, Gabriele Maria Costa, Bernardo Montes de Oca, and Aldo Mei. It is said that when the refugees asked for asylum, the prior Dom Martino Binz consulted with the procurator Dom Gabriele Costa, and the novice master Dom Pio Egger. Binz stated:

If it were Jesus himself knocking at the door, what would we tell him? Would we have the courage to send him off to die?

They opened the door. After the war, the monks remained silent about the execution. In 2000 the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of R ...

requested a report from the monks, to be sent to the Commission of the New Martyrs. Journalist Luigi Accattoli was the first person external to the Commission who read the report and in 2014 published the book ''La strage di Farneta'' - The Farneta Massacre -.

References

Bibliography

* Sciascia, Giuseppina,
The Silent Summer of 1944
', in «

L'Osservatore Romano ''L'Osservatore Romano'' (, 'The Roman Observer') is the daily newspaper of Vatican City State which reports on the activities of the Holy See and events taking place in the Catholic Church and the world. It is owned by the Holy See but is not ...

. English Weekly Edition», 2005, February 2. Republished as "Carthusian Booklets Series", no. 10. Arlington, VT: Charterhouse of the Transfiguration, 2006 * Accattoli, Luigi, ''La strage di Farneta. Storia sconosciuta dei dodici Certosini fucilati dai tedeschi nel 1944'', Soveria Mannelli, Rubbettino, 2013 {{Authority control Carthusian monasteries in Italy Monasteries in Tuscany Buildings and structures in Lucca